Friday, June 22, 2007

US Army War Graves Registration, Saigon 1946


In August, 1946 the US Army sent the War Graves Registration to Saigon. Lieutenant Irving Wendt and his team were on assignment in SE Asia looking for the bodies and graves of downed pilots and other victims of World War II.

The only military personnel killed in action during this period that I am aware of was Lt. Colonel Peter Dewey of the OSS. Dewey had been in Vietnam only three weeks as part of project Embankment. He was killed at a Vietnamese checkpoint in an unmarked vehicle while waiting for a his delayed flight to Ceylon.

The first cover was sent by Lt. Wendt in Saigon 20 August 1946. The second, a post card, was sent by him from the Netherlands Indies the following February. On the reverse he talks a bit about his work - and suffering a dog bite as an occupational hazard.

Hua Hin Airfield Construction Company 1956


In 1956, a US Army Engineer Heavy Construction Company was tasked with constructing and expanding the Hua Hin Airfield in Thailand in anticipation of build up in Indo-china. The airfield was later used for covert flights into Laos. This cover was sent by Captain John T. Myers at APO 74, Box "B" (Bangkok) to Corvalis, Oregon.

Thanks to Bob Munshower for the background information on this cover.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Crab Insignia cover - update

Back in December I posted a request for more information about a cover with a crab insignia. Here is a quick summary of what I have learned.

The cover is related to the Phoenix program. It was sent from the "Rung Chi Linh" training facility in Vung Tau built for the Binh Dinh Nong Program. Paramilitary police also trained here. "Rung Chi Linh" is printed on the inside of the letter sheet, so the crab is definitely the program's insignia.

As you can tell from some of my posts I am spending time focusing on US Forces, especially early involvement (1945-1964) and material related to covert operations - both US and Vietnamese. If you have interesting items to sell/trade, let me know.

Special Operations Augmentation

Special Operations Augmentation (SOA) provided cover for the clandestine Studies and Operations Group (SOG). The recipient was a member of SOA Command and Control South, 5th Special Forces Group Airborne. This group formed the core of SOG ground missions. SOG ran highly classified sabotage and psychological and special operations in North and South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China.

The cover was sent Registered mail from Thailand in September 1970. The rubber stamp marking on the cover front simply reads "Air Mail" in English and Thai script.


Friday, June 8, 2007

ROK White Horse Registered Cover


The Korea Philately journal apparently hasn't been published in a while, so my request for assistance identifying ROK covers is still with the editor. I will try some other avenues to get info. In the mean time, I picked up some new ROK forces covers at NAPEX. I will add them to my web site when I have a chance.

The illustrated cover has what I assume is a registry label affixed. I haven't seen this before.